Jack O'Brien Sr. sought to give back to Marlborough

Matt Lynch/Daily News staff

Friday

Dec 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMDec 28, 2007 at 2:14 PM

MARLBOROUGH - Only 18-years-old at the time, Karen O'Brien couldn't figure out why her dad, Jack, and his friends were laughing. After being stumped by the city clerk's question of whether O'Brien was a Democrat or Republican, she called out to her dad, who was waiting outside.

Only 18-years-old at the time, Karen O'Brien couldn't figure out why her dad, Jack, and his friends were laughing.

After being stumped by the city clerk's question of whether O'Brien was a Democrat or Republican, she called out to her dad, who was waiting outside.

Jack O'Brien, a Democratic Ward 5 Councilor whose kitchen boasted a framed picture of John F. Kennedy, told his daughter she was a Republican.

"I told the city clerk he said Republican and she stopped and said, 'Are you sure he said that?' " said Karen O'Brien-Hayes, decades after her father's prank led her to be the only registered Republican in the family.

Such was the life for the children of John "Jack" O'Brien Sr., a lifelong Marlborough resident and 12 year Ward 5 councilor who died last Thursday in Marlborough. He was 84.

O'Brien's wife, Helen, said her husband, known as "OB" to his friends, had a dry sense of humor and love of politics that permeated the entire family.

"It started when he was in high school," said Helen O'Brien. "He always loved history. And I should know I was in the same history class."

Whether as a member of the 1939 Junior City Council at Marlborough High School or a mayoral candidate in 1965, O'Brien never strayed from the political life.

O'Brien even kept scrapbooks of his time as a city councilor detailing every action taken by the council from the late 1950s to the early '70s, from leash law debates to land purchases.

"He was born in Marlborough, attended school in Marlborough, and wanted to give something back," said Helen O'Brien.

Ron Guest, a reporter for the Marlborough Enterprise in the late '60s and early '70s, said O'Brien was a less flamboyant version of Boston's Dapper O'Neil or James Michael Curley, a quick-witted and outspoken politician but still a gentleman.

"A couple days after the election (for mayor, which O'Brien lost), I ran into him and asked how he was doing," Guest said. "He laughed and said, 'Hell, I had 500 people at my party and I only got 200 votes.' "

Carol Ahern, one of O'Brien's daughters, said her father was a fiscal conservative who never made a promise he couldn't keep.

"(Local reporters) called him a maverick but he wasn't a maverick," she said. "He was someone who voted with his conscience, who was never beholden to friend of foe."

(Matt Lynch can be reached at 508-490-7453 or mlynch@cnc.com.)

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